{"id":654957,"date":"2026-10-23T16:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T16:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/654957\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T16:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T16:44:11","slug":"kalandra-i-wasnt-a-fan-of-the-beatles-but-going-into-that-audition-i-said-this-has-been-my-dream-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/654957\/","title":{"rendered":"Kalandra: \u201cI wasn\u2019t a fan of the Beatles, but going into that audition, I said, \u2018This has been my dream forever!\u2019\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kalandra<\/a>\u2019s magnificent new third album, The Other Side. \u2018As daylight sings its final song\u2026 the tide of sleep is calling me,\u2019 Stenbekk unloads over classical swells from the track\u2019s guest performers, chamber-poppers \u00c1rst\u00ed\u00f0ir. \u2018It\u2019s whispering my name.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\u201cI feel like it\u2019s a nightmare more than a dream,\u201d she continues, talking to Hammer by video-call on a dreary October afternoon. \u201cI tell myself \u2018this doesn\u2019t have to be a bad thing\u2019 and then I\u2019m off flying, but deep down, I am scared. I also have mimics that often show up between 4 and 6am: voices that say my name. You know it\u2019s happening in your head, but sometimes you wonder, \u2018Is this in my head? What if someone is calling me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s no surprise, then, that Stenbekk walked into a band meeting in 2024 and said that whatever they make next should be centred around sleep and the subconscious. Two years later, The Other Side is their first conceptual work: single Let Me Be Open is about overcoming deeply latent fears, while the shamanic yet catchy Animal asks whether generative AI technologies are able to dream. But the album also expands upon the quartet\u2019s blend of folk tradition and modern rock, which has made them one of the most promising newcomers in alternative music.<\/p>\n

Although Kalandra started in 2011, their career didn\u2019t truly kick off until eight years later, when they inked a deal with By Norse: the label co-founded by Einar Selvik<\/a> of Nordic resurrectionists Wardruna. On their 2020 debut, The Line, Stenbekk howled like a priestess over tunes which packed the awe of ancient forest rituals into contemporary song structures.<\/p>\n

Kalandra – Lost in the Dark (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Kalandra<\/p>\n

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Where 2024 successor A Frame Of Mind realised the band\u2019s anthemic potential, The Other Side is blurrier: less immediate but ultimately more rewarding as it coalesces sounds from across the continents. Midpoint A Ship Has Left The Shore rises from Western singer\/songwriter-style intimacy to a cleansing, choral chant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe genesis of the band was us being this folky thing, but none of us are folk musicians,\u201d explains guitarist Jogeir Daae M\u00e6land. \u201cIt\u2019s us doing a pastiche of all these different genres where we kind of know what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere are influences of folk from the Nordic countries, but also from all over the world,\u201d adds Stenbekk. \u201cI have hints of Indian and Middle Eastern things that I do with my voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lineup seem like opposites: Stenbekk is the chatty, elfin dreamer, whereas M\u00e6land, co-guitarist Florian Winter and drummer Oskar Johnsen Rydh (all also on today\u2019s call) are stoic, sometimes deadpan. Rydh barely says a word. But what brought them together was a shared desire to push limits. The singer and guitarists met while studying at the Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts (LIPA), the university co-founded by local hero Paul McCartney<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember the day I did the auditions,\u201d says Winter. \u201cI had never heard of LIPA and wasn\u2019t particularly a fan of the Beatles<\/a>, but going into that audition, I said, \u2018This has been my dream forever! I\u2019m such a Beatles fan!\u2019 It was all BS.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trio only met McCartney once, at their graduation ceremony, where he gave out the diplomas. \u201cTime stops in that moment,\u201d Stenbekk recalls. \u201cIt literally takes five seconds: you go out, you hold the paper and you smile at the camera. He said, \u2018Take the pin badge.\u2019 \u2018What?\u2019 \u2018Take the pin badge, love \u2013 in my hand. Now look at the camera!\u2019 I just glided off the stage and was like, \u2018Oh!\u2019 My heart was racing a lot faster than I thought it would.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you go to LIPA, you sign away all the rights you have to them taking pictures of you,\u201d adds Winter. \u201cIf they take a photo of you at the university, they can use that in all of their promotional materials, forever. I saw this in Oslo: they were having tryouts, and there was a life-sized cardboard cutout of me outside the building, in the middle of the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Kalandra\n<\/p>\n

Winter and Stenbekk onstage in 2022. (Image credit: Per Ole Hagen\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

From there, Stenbekk jokes, much of Kalandra\u2019s career progression has come down to \u201cstalking\u201d their idols. The singer sent By Norse\u2019s Selvik demos and music videos for four years, then it was another two before his label actually reached out with an offer.<\/p>\n

Similarly, she once outright told composer Bear McCreary (The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, God Of War, Percy Jackson And The Olympians) at a festival that she thought she\u2019d be perfect for one of his projects. She\u2019s now lined up to sing on his soundtrack for AAA title God Of War Laufey next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just about telling people in your genre that you exist,\u201d she explains. \u201cNone of us have musician parents: we can\u2019t leap off of someone else\u2019s career. We really had to start from scratch, so we can\u2019t have any shame about this. I\u2019m quite introverted, but I know for a fact that if I don\u2019t do anything, nothing is going to happen. So I need to dare to be social.\u201d<\/p>\n

That self-determination is paying off. As well as being signed to By Norse and their frontwoman having God Of War Laufey on the horizon, the band composed music for strategy game Kingdom Two Crowns in 2022 and have toured extensively. Songs from The Line alone have been streamed more than 50 million times combined.<\/p>\n

But, when Hammer asks about the members\u2019 hopes for the future, more of this kind of thing isn\u2019t what they talk about. They want to carry on doing what brought them together: smashing different cultures together, and smashing genre conventions over their knees. \u201cThere are a lot of things that we didn\u2019t get to do on the last two albums: we never got to work with an orchestra,\u201d Winter hints.<\/p>\n

On a more personal level, Stenbekk wants to work on keeping the bad dreams at bay, to control how stress infects her subconscious. \u201cIt\u2019s like a black tar that seeps into my soul,\u201d she states, \u201cand I don\u2019t know how to relax. I still feel like I can\u2019t get it out unless I allow myself to cry, or I go for a run. Maybe I should start boxing or punching something \u2013 I really feel like I should handle stress better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Other Side is out on November 13 via By Norse. Kalandra tour Europe and the UK from February to March. Get tickets.<\/a><\/p>\n

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